The Tessarae Games
by karameiwaku
Summary: In the aftermath of World War III, a new Unified Government establishes the Tessarae Games as a means to manage the population. Recent history and rules. District info coming soon!
1. Recent History

Recent History

Special Note of Thanks to Suzanne Collins for creating the Hunger Games! Anything you recognize belongs to her. Also to Galaxy842 for the initial outline of World Wide Districts, and for giving me permission to play in them.

World War III did not begin in the Middle East due to any of the perennial oil-related conflicts, but in Central Africa, for all of the natural resources of that nearly untapped continent. India was an initial major player in the area, sending investors who bought up the rights to a lot of terrain, revealing the true value of the assets available. China soon followed, and a price war escalated into various civil wars, sponsored by governments from all around the world. Peacekeeping efforts fell apart before they even got launched.

The war escalated out of Africa as retaliatory efforts between governments involved. China and the OPEC consortium, supporting their own claims to the areas, declared war on India and the United States, supporting local governments and purchase rights. Russia sided with China. Europe and the Americas sided with the US. Russia and Europe, remembering the devastation of World Wars I and II, declared a truce along their mutual borders, focusing their efforts outward through their allies.

Beyond Africa, the hardest hit were India and China, as the war soon embroiled not just their interests in African resources, but became entangled by their millennia of mutual differences. They invaded each other several times throughout the war. Casualties in these campaigns ran into the tens of millions. China induced the Middle East to invade India's western border, prompting Japan to invite the Americas to launch attacks on China's eastern borders by way of Japanese ports.

Throughout the rest of the world though, World War III was not fought by soldiers, but by hackers. The greatest targets were not military strongholds, but technological assets. Military technology, like military intelligence, could not keep pace with the competition. The only true military advantage became the possession of Weapons of Mutually Assured Destruction, resulting in several years of a worldwide standoff, punctuated by terrifying hordes of mutated creatures, one result of biological warfare that swept through animal populations.

Begun decades before the war, and continuing despite wartime delays, one civilian project became a symbol of hope for future peace and prosperity. Touted as the greatest space station to ever be built by mankind, the developers and promoters carefully avoided entangling this civilian project in the war. Launched in pieces from secret facilities all over the world, the enormous station was assembled in the Lunar-Terra First Libration Point. Once complete, a grand round of tourism was highly publicized.

Much less publicized was the fact that most of these tourists never came back home. Some even went so far as to hire lookalike actors to portray their return. The war ended abruptly with the rise of the Capital, as the world's elites took control of all utilities and municipal assets from afar. Declaring a new, consolidated government, they abandoned the myriad of former calendar systems, and established the new Unified Calendar, starting at Year 1 UC.

With all grids shut down, the results on Earth were transformatively devastating. Services came to a standstill. The first plague was civil unrest, promptly followed by rioting. Fires and crimes rampaged out of control. Then diseases began circulating, and the crippled health care system immunized their own workers and left everyone else outside locked doors. Population dwindled rapidly as civilization deteriorated. In the absence of proper care and upkeep, critical dams failed, bridges collapsed, and power plants went offline, or worse. A nuclear plant in Sweden was the first to blow. With several others in dangerous situations, complying with the Capital became the only viable option.

Around the world nations began capitulating, acknowledging the primacy of the new government, and begging for help. The first to do so were those previously categorized as third world countries and areas long accustomed to dynastic or imperialistic rule. Cultures least compatible with the new regime were formerly democratic, and were among the last to become compliant.

The Capital rapidly solidified its rule over the world. They arbitrarily created districts for their own convenience based more on geographic regions than prior political borders, though many local areas retained their existing names. Education, largely comprised of video lectures streamed from the Capital, became standardized around the world. All goods produced were required to pass through the Capital before going to another District, ensuring that sales to the Capital were cheaper and more desirable than exports between Districts. This also included digital works, ensuring the Capital maintained oversight and censorship on mass-produced entertainment.

The Capital also created several measures designed for mass pacification.

The first of these was the new Peacekeeper program, which enabled citizens to achieve economic advancement at a personal cost. Peacekeepers, once trained, were always assigned to another district every couple of years. This turnover created a division between peacekeepers and the residents of their assignments, hopefully reducing the complications of conflicting loyalties. After ten years, peacekeepers could retire to the district of their choice, with a retirement package large enough to invest into business rather than manual labor, or if they qualified for commission, remain in service in an officer capacity. Enlisted Peacekeepers could not marry; officers could but would transfer yet again immediately thereafter.

The second of these was the prodigy program, which could elevate someone, usually a child under twelve, directly into the Capital, as an indentured second caste citizen. All intellectual property created by the indent would belong to their Capital sponsor.

And thirdly was the creation of the Tessarae Games. Tessarae was created to allow students an income of their own, to help offset those household expenses that caused many prior cultures to put children into the workforce at a young age. Tessarae was a combined allotment of food, power, medicine and digital access. Any child who accepted tessarae was automatically enrolled in the Draft. Once each year, two draftees between twelve and seventeen would be reaped from each district to participate in the Games, and their results in the Games affected the amount of resources provided by each point of tessara for their District during the following year.

Tessarae specifics:

\- Children can begin receiving tessarae upon attaining the age of competence, age seven.

\- Children may receive one point of tessara per month for themselves and for each member of their family. Children may request that their family includes others beyond their parents and siblings, if that family member resides in their household.

\- Children at age ten may request tessarae for family members who live in other households, such as grandparents across town.

\- Children at age twelve may request tessarae for donation to worthy causes. The food, power and digital access go to the nonprofit organization.

\- Children at age fourteen may declare a handfasting, and request tessarae for their spouse and members of their spouse's household.

\- Children who receive tessarae also receive implanted contraceptives to ensure they do not cause needless drama by having children of their own before outgrowing the draft years.


	2. Rules

A. Player Rules

-.1: Characters must be sent in by PM.

-.2: You may send in as many Tributes as you like, and I reserve the right to accept any number of them. Tributes who cannot be accepted because that slot is already claimed may be reserved towards future rounds.

-.3: In addition to Tributes, you may also create one Sponsor character, who is a Capital Citizen and must not be related to any Tribute in the current round. Sponsor characters may continue forward from round to round.

-.4: If you have one or more Victor(s) from any of my games, your Victor(s) may continue onward as Mentors from round to round.

-.5: Your characters are your own. You may transfer any character you have created for my story to any other SYOC or story, adapting them as you see fit. I will also accept characters from other SYOCs so long as a) you are the creator of the character, b) the writer of the original SYOC is okay with resubmissions, c) the character fits within my story, and d) the character has not been killed in any of my previous rounds. Sections a) and b) are on your own honor.

-.6: If you write parallel stories or vignettes from your character's perspective and post them here on fanfic, I will edit in a reference into the relevant page, so readers can catch both sides of a scene, IF I receive a PM request before the final wrap.

B. Tribute Rules

-.1: The more overpowered a Tribute is, the worse their luck will turn out to be. Mary Sue and Gary Stu will almost always die gruesomely during the bloodbath or in a painful, freak accident.

-.2: Please keep in mind that the probability of Tributes being related to other Tributes or Victors is millions to one, despite the angsty plotliness of it.

-.3: If you have multiple Tributes, they will likely wind up in different alliances, if any at all.

-.4: Many vignettes will end in a decision point, such as a Tribute facing a river and choosing to go upstream, downstream, or swim across. Feel free to PM me with your Tribute's choice in these scenes. If I do not receive such a PM, I will choose for the Tribute.

-.5: Many vignettes will end in a crisis, a.k.a. the dreaded cliffhanger. Please understand these are not (just) to torment you(r Tribute), but to give Sponsor characters the opportunity to intercede or ignore them. Any Sponsor who does not PM me with their intercessions is assumed to be saving their funds for another Tribute or a better time.

C. Sponsor Rules

-.1: Sponsors are Capitalites, and may join the Games at any time, even if the SYOC for Tributes is already closed.

-.2: Sponsors begin with starting funds as determined by me. There are many ways to gain funds.

-.-:a) Inactive Sponsors, those of players who haven't reviewed or responded to my PMs in a while, will not accrue funds because obviously their businesses must be failing horribly if they're missing out on this much fun.

-.-:b) Leftover funds carry forward from round to round, with interest. Inactive Sponsors will still carry over without accruing interest.

-.-:c) Several times throughout each round, usually after enough chapters that all (remaining) Tributes have had some spotlight moments, active Sponsors will receive their allowance, modified by a bonus or penalty that is randomly drawn from a set of cards loosely based on Monopoly Chance and Community Chest cards. Good luck! The allowance value will be the same for all Sponsors, but may change from round to round or even from award to award. The draw is random for each active Sponsor.

-.-:d) There may be some gambling opportunities. These may be offered to Sponsors in an Author's Note at the bottom of a chapter. Offers will only be made -after- the affected scene is already written, ensuring bets do not influence the plot, either for or against any Tribute (and so I can't be accused of intentionally making a Sponsor go broke...) Because players will not know the outcome, any Sponsor may bet on any offer involving any Tribute. Good luck!

-.-:e Competitions! There may be competitions offered in the Author's Note at the bottom of a chapter. A typical competition is the Costume Design challenge at the beginning of each round. During the introductions, reapings, and train rides, you may PM me with design ideas for any Tribute other than your own.

-.-:f) Respond to my PM inquiry. I will probably be asking how your Tribute would respond to three or four situations. One of those situations might be an upcoming plot point, or I may use this information in future chapters. This helps me keep your characters true to your vision for them.

-.-:g) Post a review! (Anything except my typos and misteaks, see below.) [Yes, that one was intentional.]

-.-:h) Help with editing. I won't have a beta, so I'm offering a bounty for editing. Please PM me with typos, usage errors, comma errors (and I abuse commas relentlessly, so there's money to be made), incorrect homonyms, etc. PM! PM! PM! Firstly, it's only polite to avoid airing my dirty laundry. Secondly, it keeps others from copying you. Make 'em work for their own loot. Thirdly, mistakes posted in reviews won't count, nor will that review, either.

-.-:i) Vignettes! I'd like for this to be somewhat interactive, and to make the reviews worth reading, too. Any in-character vignette posted as a review will score bonus bucks for your Sponsor. If your Tribute(s) skipped a chapter, feel free to write up your Sponsor's point of view! Please divide the review with ... or - to keep the in character vignette separate from your own comments.

-.3: Sponsors may send gifts to any Tribute, except Tributes owned by the same player.

-.4: Funds spent or gambled away are gone. There are no refunds for gifts sent to Tributes who don't survive.

-.5: Tributes can only receive so many gifts within a given time. Excess gifts will be placed in a queue for that Tribute, and delivered to them as each time window passes. Sponsors will be advised of the delays (by PM to the Sponsor players). The order of delivery will be determined by the timestamp on the PM of the Sponsor's gift request. Gifts in queue at the time of a Tribute's demise will be refunded.

-.6: If multiple Sponsors independently make the same purchase for the same Tribute, the price will be divided among them, and refunds issued, minus varying fees. Sponsors may also contribute towards a large goal. If enough Sponsorship adds up, the goal will be attained. If not, refunds, minus fees, will be issued. Fees will vary. Corruption is not unknown.

-.7: If you are willing to be PM'd by other players to coordinate Sponsorship, please place a note in your Review. Do not PM people without this explicit permission.

-.8: Sponsors will age over time and can pass away. Your next Sponsor will inherit your previous Sponsor's carry-over balance, if any, or receive some sort of gift in that amount, or win some lottery or other, or be independently wealthy and already possess those funds. Details are fun, but the practical matter is that changing Sponsors won't affect your bottom line. Interest will accrue per normal active or inactive rules.

D. Mentor Rules

-.1: The Victor of each round becomes a Mentor in future rounds, up to the character's natural or artificially deflated lifespan.

-.2: If you have a living Mentor, you may not submit Tributes for that same District.

-.3: Mentors can continue developing over time, with lives of their own, which may get referenced during Introductory chapters of future rounds.

-.4: Mentors belonging to inactive players, those who haven't reviewed or responded to PMs in a while, will be developed by me.

E. Rules Rules

-.1: Rules may change over time, whether between rounds or during rounds, as needed.


	3. Shopping List

Shopping List

This list shows the base prices of various categories of things, with common examples of each category. Prices will probably go up during a round, and such changes will be noted in the author's note at the bottom of the latest chapter. If you'd like to send something that isn't on this list, please PM me with a Sponsor request with the proposed item, its category and cost. We might negotiate any portion of the request.

$25 - an encouraging note, written by an anonymous Capital Kid, with a few pieces of non-melting candy, such as peppermints, lemon drops or cinnamon discs. Only costs $10 when paired with another delivery.

$50 - minor items - pair of socks or gloves, sun visor, hat, twine, bar of soap, washcloth, knee pads, votive candle, salt and pepper packets

$50 - entertainment items - doll, stuffed animal, deck of cards, dice, paper and pen, marbles, rubber ball

$75 - minor medicine - painkiller, bandaids, bruise balm, sunscreen, sunburn lotion, vitamin, hot'n cold pack, alcohol wipes, cough drops

$100 - primitive weapons - a sharp rock, pointy short stick, a sturdy branch, leather strap

$100 - useful items - backpack, 1000 calories food, canteen, iodine, blanket, bug netting, lighter, rain coat, 25' clothesline, compass, whetstone, plastic garden trowel and rake, sewing kit, small rubber mallet, flashlight, batteries, bellows, plastic bucket, small tarp, can of cooking fuel, quick-burn log

$300 - small weapons - knife, dagger, knucks, pair of darts, garrote, boxing gloves, metal tent stake, metal garden trowel or rake, rolling pin, kitchen scissors

$400 - useful medicine - bandages, antiseptic ointments, auto-stitcher, burn cream, wrist or ankle brace, splint, inhaler

$500 - significant items - sack full of food and drinks, tent with four plastic stakes, all-weather sleeping bag, 100' climbing rope, pair of climbing spikes, heavy winter jacket, binoculars

$600 - helpful weapons - billy club, wooden spear, hand axe, hammer, light bow, basic sword, balanced throwing knife

$1000 - life-saving medicine- antivenom, epi-pen, tailored to the specific need

$1000 - high end items - mutt repellent, leather jacket, hard hat, night vision goggles

$1000 - effective weapons - tailored to the Tribute's training


End file.
